Users of wireless devices are becoming more dependent on the functionality provided by mobile or wireless devices such as phones, laptop computers and other similar devices. Such functionality includes, inter alia, phone, email, text messaging, internet browsing, GPS navigation, GPS tracking, cameras and music/picture/video players. Running out of power for these mobile devices is unacceptable.
Users are always scrambling to plug-in their devices for re-charging or having to purchase and carry extra batteries. The ultimate devices are ones that can be trusted to operate for long periods of time and can provide a level of certainty that enough power will be available when needed.
Battery life is an important consideration when using electronic devices such as digital cameras, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Typically, most individuals do not have spare batteries for such devices on hand and thus need to make sure there is enough battery life left, for example, for taking a set number of pictures or enough battery life to finish up a project on a laptop computer or other wireless device.
Most of today's mobile devices provide battery level indicators (usually three to five “bars”). However, this does not accurately reflect how long this device will remain operational. Additionally, how long each bar lasts is different depending on whether power consuming components like disks or wi-fi or other power-consuming functions are being utilized. A further complicating factor is that three bars on one device is not the same as three bars on another device and a power bar does not give any real assurance that a certain amount of power will be available when needed since no consideration is given to the type or number of applications that will be run on any particular wireless device.
Some users also buy extra batteries to ensure they can continue to operate when the current batteries run out. However, there are disadvantages to using this method. Users need to ensure that the second battery is charged when needed. Changing batteries means powering down the device before the second battery can be installed. Lastly there's the cost disadvantage of expensive batteries and challenge of misplacing them. Others users will carry power adapters with them. However finding an appropriate sitting area close to a power adapter can be difficult, if not impossible.
In some systems, users can select from a list of profiles (optimized, performance, automatic, presentation, etc.). Using one of these profiles users can prolong the life of the battery by dimming the display, turning off the drive, or automatically putting the device on stand-by mode when it is not used within a certain period of time. While this technique is useful for prolonging the battery life in laptop computers, it does not define a goal time for how long the device will continue to run, especially smaller battery-operated wireless devices.
Further, the above-noted power-conserving schemes do not take into account how the user is operating or intends to operate the device, i.e. in a high power-consuming function or a low power-consuming function. Thus, with pre-set, automatically imposed power-saving schemes, a user is still unable to control the particular power-saving scheme to best suit the particular application which will be used and of which only the user is aware. For example, in one pre-set power-saving scheme, when a battery level is detected to be approaching a certain level, the display may automatically be dimmed to a lower power-consuming state in order to allow the battery power to be available for a longer period of time. However, the user at the time, may be in a dimly-lit environment or be working on a detailed graphics program, and will need all of the screen illumination available. In such a situation, the user may prefer to lower the power level of other power consuming functions which he or she is not using or does not need rather than lowering the illumination level of the display. Thus, even currently available power saving systems fall short of providing an optimum power-saving solution for a broad range of applications.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide an improved power management processing system which is designed to avoid the problems set forth above.